Taiwan's mobile operators see 'unprecedented' demand for iPhone 4S

Taiwan is ready to break sales records when it launches the iPhone 4S later this month. According to a Focus Taiwan report, iPhone 4S pre-orders have already reached an astounding 380,000 units. With eight more days left until the December 16 release date, this number will likely get larger.

A report at Want China Times claims the carriers were not prepared when pre-orders began earlier this month. Far Eastone's website crashed under the load of customers trying to reserve their handsets, and even Chunghwa Telecom, which upped its capacity during the pre-order frenzy, couldn't keep up with demand. Taiwan Mobile also went down, and its 2,500 free iPhone 4S cases sold out within hours.

The top 4S seller is wireless carrier Chunghwa Telecom, which accepted 210,000 pre-orders, well over the 150,000 orders the carrier expected. Coming in second and third are Far Eastone with 90,000 pre-orders and Taiwan Mobile with 80,000. All three carriers say they did not expect this high demand for Apple's latest smartphone.

The iPhone 4S will launch in Taiwan on December 16. An unlocked iPhone 4S will start around NT$25,400 (US$842).